Micro-hdmi to VGA compatibility

Has anyone tried using a generic micro-hdmi to VGA dongle with their surface (i.e. one made by Samsung or Startech)? The reason I ask is that the one on the MS store has been "out of stock" for some time in Canada, and I'm wondering if any converter can be substituted, or if one achieves better results with the official one from Microsoft. Thanks.

I have a micro HDMI to HDMI which works great (no brand £3.65/$5 from Amazon). I also have a Cable Matters HDMI to VGA adapter. I tried this with a projector earlier and it worked great, The surface switched to a lower 4:3 resolution mirrored the display. Firing up PowerPoint it switched to a full screen slide view on the projector and a different view on the Surface with quarter screen slide view plus slide notes - perfect.

I have a micro HDMI to HDMI which works great (no brand £3.65/$5 from Amazon). I also have a Cable Matters HDMI to VGA adapter. I tried this with a projector earlier and it worked great, The surface switched to a lower 4:3 resolution mirrored the display. Firing up PowerPoint it switched to a full screen slide view on the projector and a different view on the Surface with quarter screen slide view plus slide notes - perfect.

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Thanks for the information. Just to make sure, the HDMI-VGA converter you are using doesn't have its own power-supply right? In otherwords, it's a dongle like the one pictured here: Cable Matters HDMI to VGA M/F Adapter, converter. I just want to make sure that the Surface micro-hdmi port is putting out enough power to drive one of these passive devices.

It sounds like it "works" with Power Point. Can you be more specific about what you are connecting to? I was not able to get it to work with Netflix or the Video app. In both cases it complained the resolution was too low. My monitor and my projector are both 720P.

Because true 720p only has 720 horizontal scan lines of resolution (1280x720) it does not support the Modern UI, you will need a minimum of 768 horizontal scan lines for it to work. Some 720p monitors will allow you to change to 1024x768 which would allow for Modern UI but not snap.

It sounds like it "works" with Power Point. Can you be more specific about what you are connecting to? I was not able to get it to work with Netflix or the Video app. In both cases it complained the resolution was too low. My monitor and my projector are both 720P.

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I think you just stumbled upon a perfect excuse to upgrade your monitor and projector